To My Boys: September 11, 2020
Good morning!
Do you want to know something scary (at least scary for me)? We currently have no students at Belen born in the 20th century. In other words, every single one of you was born after the year 2000! It’s scary because I’m 50 years old and I clearly remember when I was a kid thinking the 21st century was way out into the future. It doesn’t feel like it was that long ago. In fact, I even remember wondering if we would ever get there. Well, not only did we get here, but we have kept going.
The other thing that amazes me about all this is the fact that none of you lived the experience of the September 11th attacks on our country. None of you existed, when on that fateful day in 2001 the planes driven by a hateful ideology, slammed against the Twin Towers in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and crashed into an empty field in Pennsylvania.
Thousands were killed, our country was under attack, and we went to war. Everybody who was around back then remembers exactly where they were when it happened. Ask your parents, you’ll see they recall it perfectly. Me… I was in my office with a student when Mr. Ralf Ledesma came to tell me a plane had crashed into one of the towers. I confess not to have thought too much of it until 20 minutes later when the second plane crashed. It was then I realized the unthinkable happened… we were under attack.
Words cannot explain the horror of those difficult and dramatic days and weeks and months that followed. Fear, anger, confusion, all fell upon us like acid rain and created an environment of great insecurity. However, despite all of those horrible things, what developed in the aftermath was a sense of national unity and patriotism. In the midst of such terror and heartache grew a stronger devotion to prayer, family, pride in our country, and heartfelt respect and admiration for our men and women in the armed services. We grew as a nation and in many ways grew up as a generation.
As we remember today the events of 9/11, we must never forget what happened on that fateful day and we also must learn from it. In many ways, our nation is still healing and your generation will be faced with its own obstacles to overcome. Let's remember what developed in the wake of that attack and bring back that strong devotion to prayer, family, and pride, not only in our country but in one another.
Auspice Maria
BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba by Queen Isabel II of Spain. The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline. In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the School property and expelled the Jesuit faculty. The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow. Today, Belen Jesuit sits on a 30-acre site in western Dade County, only minutes away from downtown Miami.